Content Warning: I’ll be talking about the Epstein Files, if you’re feeling anxious or depressed right now, please come back to this blogpost when you feel able, and mind yourself.
John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, famously said, ‘power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely’:
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/absolute-power-corrupts-absolutely.html
But I think Acton, and maybe this comes down to linguistic differences between 21st century English and 19th century English, but it seems to me that the idea that power, merely corrupts, doesn’t put it quite strongly enough. To me, “corruption”, means fiddling the expenses or taking a bribe here and there, unacceptable sure, but absolutely nothing in comparison to what we have witnessed, and are still witnessing. I wish power merely corrupted, I, and many more people thousands of times more vulnerable that myself, would feel a lot safer in this world if we merely had to worry about corruption. No, power turns human beings into complete sadists, absolute monsters, with no regard for their fellow human beings. Either power does that to a person, or, only people who are pure evil to begin with are attracted to power.
We knew those in power were all about making the rich richer and the poor poorer. We knew those in power were all about destroying our planet, knowing that they would be too old and too rich to have to face the consequences. And, doing these things is, for want of a better word, somewhat understandable. Don’t get me wrong, it is completely unacceptable, but I think most of us can somewhat understand living such a comfortable, privileged life, that we are concerned only with very selfish desires, such as being able to travel all over the world in your private jet and being able to purchase several houses despite the fact that most people can barely afford one.
But what kind of sickness, what kind of insane lust for power, what kind of fundamental breakdown in the ability to tell right from wrong, has to occur for a person to want to be responsible for committing sexual assault and rape against children and women on a massive scale? At that point, anything in that person that could be called redeemable, is completely absent. And yet, some of the most powerful people in the world, in the British government, the British monarchy, the U.S government, and a ton of wealthy and famous people involved in many different high paying professions, decided, they wanted to either commit these sick acts, wanted to help others do so, or, knew what was going on, and chose to say nothing. That’s not corruption, that’s allowing yourself to become a complete monstrosity.
Peter Mandelson
Here Jermey Corbyn gives a speech about Peter Mandelson, concerning the absolute disgrace of him being appointed British Ambassador to United States by Keir Starmer:
But don’t worry, because, Keir Starmer has apologized, so everything is okay!:
Do you know, just once, just once I would like to see Starmer, just, make a genuine, completely genuine, attempt to atone for one of the horrible things he has done in his life. I don’t know whether that would be of an satisfaction to the many, many people his actions have hurt, but it would be nice to see it once. But no, not even in this case, NOT EVEN IN THIS CASE, is Starmer willing to say, “I knowingly did something wrong, and now I have to put in the work of trying to make that right.” No, he didn’t know what he was doing you see! He was an innocent pawn in Mandelson’s schemes! That’s why his “apology” includes the PATHETIC line, “I’m sorry I believed Mandelson’s lies.”
“It had been publicly known for some time, that Mandelson knew Epstein.” Personally, I wouldn’t hire someone who was friends with Epstein as a janitor, let along as ambassador to the United States. So, in a beautiful parallel universe where there is justice, what would have been said was, “It had been publicly known for some time, that Mandelson knew Epstein, so I told him to fuck off, and then slashed his tires.” But, we don’t live in that utopia, we live in a world where Starmer goes on to say, “But none of us, knew the depth, and the darkness, of that relationship.”
But let’s play a game, a game where I give Starmer the maximum benefit of the doubt. Let’s say I’m willing to grant that all Starmer knows, is that Mandelson was friends with Epstein, he doesn’t know if Mandelson was directly complicit in Epstein’s horrific crimes, and he doesn’t know if Mandelson does have information about trafficked children or women that he should bring to the police. Shouldn’t the fact that Starmer doesn’t know be enough? Shouldn’t, “I don’t know whether or not this guy is a nonce, or an enabler of people who are nonces”, be enough? I might be willing to grant that Starmer didn’t know for certain what Mandelson was involved in, but, even if I am willing to stretch my benefit of the doubt to absolute breaking point, Starmer didn’t know whether Mandelson was, or wasn’t, involved in horrific sexual abuse, or was an enabler of those who were involved in it. And yet was still willing to take that risk. There’s only two possibilities, either Starmer could have hired someone less despicable, and chose not to, or, every other possible candidate for the job is just as despicable as Mandelson. Neither of those possibilities are comfortable ones, to put it mildly
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (AKA The Epstein Pal Formerly Known As Prince)
You know that, British thing, that is constantly justified because it brings in tourism? Oh, my goodness, without the monarchy we’d have no tourism, Ireland, France and Iceland don’t have any tourism you see! Anyway, photos were released of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on all fours, touching a woman who appears to be unconscious:
Now, if I was willing to stretch my benefit of the doubt to the point where it might collapse in on itself, I might be willing to say, this poor woman collapsed unconscious suddenly, and Andrew is valiantly trying to help her. But if there was any innocent explanation for these photographs, why would he not say so immediately? There are photos of him putting his hands on an unconscious woman, and he has continuously refused to give any explanation of what’s going on:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd7z9q7d3deo
To put this as bluntly as I can, does The Epstein Pal Formerly Known As Prince think we’re all stupid?
Richard Branson
An email exchange took place between Richard Branson and Jeffrey Epstein in 2013, which, it’s important to remember, took place after Epstein’s first conviction in 2008, for soliciting minors for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute:
Branson asked Epstein would he bring his harem for their next meet-up:
Richard Branson, I think, was always very good at pretending to be a nice guy. He was always good at playing the part of “the friendly billionaire.” I hope these new revelations help people see him for the scumbag that he is.
In what will be a surprise to precisely no-one, Brett Ratner
The director of the film about Melania Trump that nobody has watched, Brett Ratner, is in the Epstein files. He and Epstein are photographed hugging two women:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0mk3v2k3r0o
Brett Ratner has had a reputation for being a scumbag to women for quite some time. This article talks about how Ratner attempted to out Elliot Page (as a lesbian before he came out as a trans man. Also because it was before Page came out as trans, this article uses the incorrect name and pronouns):
https://time.com/5019344/ellen-page-brett-ratner-outing-allegations/
Many women have come forward against Brett Ratner, including Natasha Henstridge, Olivia Munn, and Jaime Ray Newman.
But Power Is More Dangerous Than We Can Even Begin To Imagine
These are just four of the people on the Epstein files, just four. I would say most of these are unsurprising. I can understand why people might be surprised by Branson a bit, that man has always had excellent PR, he’s always been good at portraying himself as a kind hearted man and a dashing adventurer. But I think that’s more of a testament to how good his PR team is more than anything, I don’t think you get this rich without a ton of skeletons in the proverbial closet. It’s been known Ratner was a scumbag for years. Maybe it’s because I’m Irish and hatred of the British Empire (though not the British people) is in my DNA, but I’ve always despised the British Monarchy. And Mandelson’s had a reputation as a fairly immoral character for quite some time, so not too much surprise there.
But now to talk about someone, and I think the fact that this person, at the very, very least, knew what a foul person Epstein was, and still wanted to be his friend, shows how toxic and evil power itself is.
Noam Chomsky
I’ve had great respect for Chomsky for quite some time. Sure, I find some of his beliefs to be contradictory (he’s an anarchist who wants to, at least in the short term, increase the power of the state) but I think I, and many of us on the left saw him as an ally to our cause, so the fact that he’s in the Epstein Files came as a big shock to many of us. There’s no getting around the fact that Chomsky, at the very least, knew what Epstein was up to and still wanted to be friends with him.
As already stated, Epstein’s first conviction occurred in 2008. Chomsky became friends with him after this conviction:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce9ykjlyv50o
The advice Chomsky gave to Epstein actually chills my blood:
“What the vultures dearly want is public response, which then provides a public opening for an onslaught of venomous attacks, many from just publicity seekers or cranks of all sorts.”
“That’s particularly true now with the hysteria that has developed about abuse of women, which has reached the point that even questioning a charge is a crime worse than murder,”
I want to make this, as clear as I can, at this point, Chomsky knew that in 2008, Epstein was convicted of soliciting minors for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute. And when Epstein asks Chomsky, “Everyone is being mean to me, what do I do?” Chomsky effectively responds, “Oh don’t listen to them, they’re just woke snowflakes trying to cancel culture you, everything is considered rape these days!”
I religiously read so many of Chomsky’s books, detailing Israel’s apartheid against Palestine. The horrors committed in El Salvador, Iraq, Nicaragua. How the governments of the world continue to suppress worker’s rights. The problem was, we all forget, that because Chomsky called out those in power, that he also WAS one of the people in power. Chomsky is rich, famous and influential. You would hope that his political activism would temper the corruption of power, but it’s actually the other way around, his own power has completely shattered his moral compass.
So that’s where we are, the system is so poisonous, so toxic, and yet, its power is so addictive, that even people we thought could be trusted to call out the system, end up seduced by it.
I Don’t Know What’s Next
It already feels like I don’t know up or down, left or right (I mean in a literal sense, not a political sense), which way is north and which way is south. The evil, the sickness, that has been revealed to us, has caused, for want of a better way of putting it, a feeling if disorientation. Even the sources I used to write this very article, I’m wondering, am I going to find out five minutes from now that the person who wrote the article, or made the video, is on the Epstein list?
Will anything change? Is this what brings the system crumbling down? If this were a film, that would be it, the heroes would defeat the bad guys, roll credits. But, we don’t live in that world. Was the Catholic Church brought down by the revelations about it? A few priests went to prison for child sex abuse sure, but the Catholic Church is still standing. Was the BBC brought down for its own child sex abuse scandal? Not only is the BBC still standing, but it’s still so enmeshed in our lives that I still instinctively use it to source these very blogposts I write.
So, there’s a good chance, that that’s the end of it, a few people go to prison, but the governments, the systems of power, the billionaires, the celebrities, all those sick fucks who enabled or participated in the sexual abuse of children and women, they just throw a few of their friends under the bus, and then continue as normal.
All, I can say is, the Catholic Church is still standing, but it would have been worse if not a single one of those guilty priests was punished. It would have been worse if Jimmy Saville’s horrific crimes were never brought to light (though it is of course horrific that he never faced any justice while alive.) Only the next few years, and decades, and possibly centuries, will tell, if we all get what we really want, an end to this despicable society we live in, where all you need to get away with the sickest abuse, the most horrific crimes, is a little bit of money and knowing the right people.
I hope the Epstein revelations are finally what brings about real change, as opposed to half baked apologies and excuses from the likes of Starmer. The fight for justice must continue. Part of how Epstein, Mandelson, and the rest of those scoundrels got away with it, is by convincing us that they’re invincible. We need to show them that they’re anything but invincible, and that the law, and basic morality, must apply to the richest, to the most powerful and to the most influential. We simply cannot let their crimes go unpunished.
Ponderings Of An Autist 